Topic 7

So going off of my last post about visiting my friends in Columbus, my other friend is caricature artist. Now anyone that has an illustrator for a friend knows that they pretty much freelance for their entire professional life because theirs not really a full time position needed for illustrators at an ad and graph firm or whatever. So we were talking about how learning the business aspect of what we do is such a big part that schools don't really tell you about. The negotiating with clients and having to fend for yourself against other artists who are trying to get the job. It was very interesting because it's an entirely different part of what we do for a living. You have to be assertive and sometimes a huge a$$hole to get where you want to be in this competitive field. Anyways his website is www.robhren.com....check it out, he does some really cool stuff.

Topic 6

So I recently made a visit to see some friends in Columbus who are both artists. The one works for Blue Diesel in Columbus as a web designer and we got to talking about good ways to network. He told me that he landed his current job and just interviewed for another one all because he has an account on LinkedIn.com. For those of you that are not familiar with this site it is a social networking site for business professionals and freelance workers of any sort. I highly recommend everyone sign up for a free account and start networking. It definitely pays off.

Topic 8

http://www.chrisjockey.com/english/home.html....... This guys portfolio is really cool. It's done in Flash but the home page has some really nice animation. He doesn't use pages but has the home page shift up and down and left and right when you click on a link and some more info and artwork pops up. I like this site because I want to try and incorporate some flash banners in my portfolio site if I can figure out how to do it. Anyways check it out, its worth taking a look at.